Mac_TA
Level 1 (8 points)
Desktops

Q: Switch Boot SSD to PCI slot

2006 Mac Pro tower 2,1  I replaced my HDD boot drive with a Crucial 525 GB SSD. Can I move the Crucial SSD to the PCI slot and get the same results or better?

Mac Pro, OS X Mavericks (10.9.5), 2x2.66 GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon

Posted on Sep 8, 2016 9:35 AM

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Q: Switch Boot SSD to PCI slot

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  • Helpful answers

  • by lllaass,

    lllaass lllaass Sep 8, 2016 9:48 AM in response to Mac_TA
    Level 10 (188,131 points)
    Desktops
    Sep 8, 2016 9:48 AM in response to Mac_TA

    Yes you can with a PCIe card that accepts 2 1/2 inch drives.

    However per

    https://eshop.macsales.com/item/OWC/SSDACL6G.S/

    You will not gain anything since the

    • 2006-2007 Mac Pro. These models utilize PCIe 1.0 slot which cannot be configured (even with the Expansion Utility in OS X) to address Accelsior S as anything but as a first generation one-lane card. As a result, Accelsior S performance will be limited to 190-200MB/s data rates. If maximum data rate speedis desired, we recommend the installation of a 2.5" OWC Mercury SSD in an open Mac Pro drive bay.

  • by Mac_TA,

    Mac_TA Mac_TA Sep 8, 2016 4:06 PM in response to lllaass
    Level 1 (8 points)
    Desktops
    Sep 8, 2016 4:06 PM in response to lllaass

    Thank you for the response.

  • by John Lockwood,

    John Lockwood John Lockwood Sep 9, 2016 2:25 AM in response to Mac_TA
    Level 6 (9,260 points)
    Servers Enterprise
    Sep 9, 2016 2:25 AM in response to Mac_TA

    In addition to Illaass' answer if you did have a newer classic Mac Pro with faster PCIe slots then yes it would be much faster. This is because the built-in drive bays on all classic Mac Pro models is only SATA II i.e. 3Gbps whereas a PCIe SATA adapter would be SATA III which is double the speed i.e. 6Gbps.

     

    This speed difference does not help with traditional hard disks but does make a noticeable difference for SATA SSD drives. Of course as Illaass mentioned this will not help you currently.

  • by Mac_TA,Helpful

    Mac_TA Mac_TA Sep 14, 2016 1:30 PM in response to John Lockwood
    Level 1 (8 points)
    Desktops
    Sep 14, 2016 1:30 PM in response to John Lockwood

    Thank you both for your response.  I was hoping to move my SSD from bay1 to a PCIe slot so that I can add another HDD for my second raid0.  I wasn't looking more speed (which would be great) but the same speed that's in bay1.